Conference Agenda

In this symposium we further the use of an agential realism perspective to critically examine how prevailing research perspectives might inadvertently perpetuate stereotypical representations of individuals (both children and adults) that are conceptualised as disadvantaged or marginalised in a range of ways such those with disabilities, as passive and tragic figures and invertedly create and cement new subjectifying discourses (e.g. the fallen behind generation). We shed light on potential shifts in the perception of vulnerabilities and their impact on institutionalised education and care from the perspective of those who may have been, remain, or have become (even more) vulnerable. Rather than affixing the label of "vulnerability" to a particular subpopulation or seeing vulnerability (solely) as an inherent characteristic in individuals, we follow Luna (2019), who proposes a contextual understanding of vulnerability. She develops an understanding that the vulnerabilities might be subject to change if situational contexts change, such as that an individual is no longer or even more susceptible to vulnerability. Crises, as in our case, the COVID-19 crisis, can serve as an excellent example of unravelling the multilayeredness and potential cascading effects of vulnerability itself and the diversity among those being perceived as vulnerable. As indicated in this symposium's umbrella text, individual dispositions of becoming vulnerable have to be seen in relation to contextual factors. We also look at the importance of research methods and how co-research with people about their own experiences of life can challenge narrow definitions of identity.

In the symposium we take a comparative perspective by investigating the situation in three Eurpoean countries (Austria, Germany and the UK) as well as Canada and Australia.

The first paper brings ideas from the Austrian project "Cov_Enable: Reimagining Vulnerabilities in times of crisis" (FWF Project P 34641) that is disentangling how (new) discourses and practice (formations) in the contexts of (inclusive) education and (supported) living are impacting children, youth, and adults labeled as vulnerable. They show how disabled persons are revealed be consistently engaged in “acts of world-building” or “performative affordances” within their daily lives.

The second paper the project "Impediments and enablers to schooling of non/privileged students during the COVID-19 pandemic – a comparison between Canada and Germany", funded by the German government, we compare how students from non/privileged milieus experienced school and out-of-school (including family) life during the different phases of the pandemic, as well as the school and classroom ways of dealing with them. This paper shows the importance of context on a nuanced understanding of vulnerability.

The third paper looks at the ways that children whether or not from marginalised groups such as SEND (special educational needs and disability) are cast as vulnerable and at risk when it comes to their perceived increasing use of social media. We suggest methodology matters. Our co-research activity-based method that aims to recruit children as co-researchers into their digital lives finds that children use apps in balanced and sophisticated ways.

Our papers together suggest that a shift in perspective taking would enable us to better address the interplay within the child/dis/ability-vulnerability nexus, with the chance of offering more nuanced and empowering narratives.

Over the past decade, discourses on disabled and marginalized groups have been intertwined in a complex manner and contradictory. These groups are portrayed as lacking agency amid global crises like pandemics, climate change, economic instability, and conflict (Ito, 2014; Bressanelli & Natali, 2023; Jørgensen et al, 2023; Henig & Knight, 2023). Concurrently, they're sometimes seen as straining welfare systems. In the project "Cov_Enable: Reimagining Vulnerabilities in times of crisis" (FWF Project P 34641), we focus on the traveling nature of the concept of vulnerability within the life course domains of inclusive education and supported housing in context of dis/ability (Koenig, Mandl & Reisenbauer, under review). This study highlights the critical role of perspective in shaping narratives and the implicit choices in research. Previously, we examined vulnerability as a complex, layered phenomenon (Luna, 2019), challenging traditional views of inherent vulnerability as individual traits residing in individuals. This presentation aims to discuss two transformative perspectives that have altered our methodological approach. Firstly, we explore agential realism and Posthumanist perspectives (Naraian & Amrhein, 2022), enriching our understanding of vulnerability. These concepts, particularly 'agential cuts' and the apparatus of knowing in agential realism (Barad, 2014), are well suited to explore how our research perspectives potentially reaffirm stereotypical representations of individuals with disabilities as passive and tragic figures. Secondly, and as a countering perspective we draw upon the work of Dokumaci (2023), whose research portrays people with disabilities neither as victims nor as drains on resources but rather as active participants in their own lives. Engaged in “activist affordances,” which extend beyond “activism in the traditional sense,” disabled persons are revealed be consistently engaged in “acts of world-building” or “performative affordances” within their daily lives as they negotiate and overcome barriers (Dokumanci, 2023, p. 5). These perspectives, as argued and demonstrated through case study analysis from our project, offer a nuanced, interconnected view of vulnerability. They pave the way for research approaches that are responsive, ethical, and attuned to the realities and agencies of individuals with disabilities. This approach underscores the concept of 'response-ability' in research, highlighting the need to respect and acknowledge the complexities of the subjects and contexts studied whilst emphasizing our duty as researchers to acknowledge and respect the complexities of the subjects and contexts we study. Such a perspective aligns with the conference's theme by recognizing the role of memory and hope in shaping future educational landscapes (Sharpe, 2013).

Barad, Karen. 2014. ‘Diffracting Diffraction: Cutting Together-Apart’. Parallax 20 (3): 168–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/13534645.2014.927623. Dokumaci, A. (2023). Activist Affordances: How Disabled People Improvise More Habitable Worlds. Duke University Press. Ito, A. (2014). Disability, natural disasters, conflict, humanitarian emergencies: The work of the United Nations. In Crises, conflict and disability (pp. 19-24). Routledge. Bressanelli, E. and Natali, D. (2023) Tested by the Polycrisis: Reforming or Transforming the EU? Politics and Governance, 11(4), 246–251. Jørgensen, S. P. et al. (2023) Evolution of the polycrisis: Anthropocene traps that challenge global sustainability. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 379. Henig, D. and Knight. D.M. (2023) Polycrisis Prompts for an emerging worldview, Anthropology Today, 39(2), 3-6. Koenig, O., Mandl, S. and Reisenbauer, S. (2024) Reconfiguring Vulnerability and Dis/ability: An Agential Realist Exploration to Disentangle Vulnerability Effects in Covid-19 Response. Submitted to Disability & Society Luna, F. (2019). Identifying and evaluating layers of vulnerability–a way forward. developing world bioethics, 19(2), 86-95. Naraian, Srikala, and Bettina Amrhein. 2022. ‘Learning to Read “Inclusion” Divergently: Enacting a Transnational Approach to Inclusive Education’. International Journal of Inclusive Education 26 (14): 1327–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2020.1807624. Sharpe, B. (2013) Three Horizones. The Patterning of Hope. Triarchy Press

This paper investigates the experiences students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in non-privileged areas of Canada and Germany. While the group of students, who experienced the pandemic during their transition from childhood to young adolescent, which is a vulnerable phase, their teachers were confronted with students with these ‘new experiences’ and not able to rely on their teaching and schooling routines and cultures to deal with these. In the project “Impediments and enablers to schooling of non-/privileged students during the COVID-19 pandemic – a comparison between Canada and Germany”, funded by the German government, we compare how students from non-/privileged milieus experienced school and out-of-school (including family) life during the different phases of the pandemic, as well as the school and classroom ways of dealing with them. Additionally their teachers’ experiences and their efforts to reach and accommodate their students will be investigated in. The context of schooling differs between Germany and Canada – not only during the pandemic (for example Sturm 2019). While Germany has tracked school systems, that distinguish vocational and academic tracks, Canadas provinces have only one track. The pandemic context also differs, since schools in Germany were closed for almost a year while Canadian schools only closed for two months. In the paper two comparisons will be focused: the experiences of non-privileged students on schooling who live in Canada and Germany and the students’ experiences in relation to the one of their teachers. This will be done based on group interviews that were conducted with four students in their schools and interviews with their teachers. The comparison shows that non-privileged students from Germany were experiencing exclusion from educational resources much more than their peers in Canada. They were not included in day-to-day options in remote exchange with teachers and peers, due to the lack of devices and internet access. In contrast to their Canadian peers the German students were offered less support, like reducing academic expectations and offering personal support in working on tasks. The Canadian teachers were provided with digital technology to stay in touch with their students, while this was not provided in all school settings in Germany. Where it was not provided, teachers had a hard time to stay in touch with their students.

Sturm, T. (2019). Constructing and addressing differences in inclusive schooling–comparing cases from Germany, Norway and the United States. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(6), 656-669.

Debates about children’s digital engagement is dominated by dichotomous discourses of digital risk, focusing on dangers to children particularly the most vulnerable (El Asam and Katz, 2018) and digital promise, which views digital technology as a force for positive change. Children are rarely directly consulted about how they use digital tools and what they see as the value of their digital experiences (Livingstone, 2014). This rigorous UK study took place with 34 Y5/10yr pupils in two schools in North East England (one rural, one urban multi-ethnic) and included a number of children with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities). Children were invited to take part as co-researchers in an individual activity-oriented interview. The activity involved placing a set of cards (apps, people, and emotions) on a game board representing their networks and interactions. Open-ended conversations explored children’s practices, purposes, experiences, contexts and values in relation to digitally mediated interactions. This research explored the following questions: • What do children value in their digital lives? • How do gender, dis/ability, cultural and social identities, and contexts, impact on children’s digital experiences? A mixed-methods approach was adopted with data collected of the activity in three ways: a video-recording children’s hands and conversation; still images taken of completed relational diagrams; and recorded conversations were transcribed. This research builds upon the Australian Research Council funded ‘How Do You Connect’ project investigates children’s digital lives to better understand and evidence how young children’s digital skills and how they build their social media networks (Neumann et al 2022). Discussions with the children evidenced how they use apps to stay connected with family and friends, locally and globally, often sharing fun and laughter; how gaming allows them to immerse themselves in, and create their own, digital worlds; how they use apps to direct their learning in hobbies and interests and how they ‘do school’ and ‘do family’. Children’s self-regulation and knowledge how to keep safe (Livingstone, 2014), and the relationship between their online and offline activity, was also evident. This research challenges a narrow conceptualisation of children including those with SEND as vulnerable, and a digital risk/digital promise binary. We find multi-layered ecologies (McHale et al 2009) in which children are embedded such that they are active in their own lives and the creation of their own identities. We discuss the importance of methods with children as co-researchers into their own lives rather than objects of study.

El Asam, A, and Katz, A. (2018). Vulnerable Young People and Their Experience of Online Risks. Human-Computer Interaction. 33. 1-24. 10.1080 Livingstone, S. (2014). Developing social media literacy: How children learn to interpret risky opportunities on social network sites. Communications, 39, 283-303. Mchale, S. M., Dotterer, A. & Kim, J.-Y. (2009). An ecological perspective on the media and youth development. American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1186-1203. Neumann, M., Park, E., Soong,H, Nichols, S. and Selim, N. (2022) Exploring the social media networks of primary school children Education 3-13 International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education